All things Christmas: Part Three

No Christmas would be complete without some time spent with......COUSINS!!! The Richards' family Christmas was a noisy, active, child-filled event. I'm not sure we adults are used to being outnumbered by all the kids yet, but we're learning to tame their energy--most of the time anyway. Grandma bought all the kids Christmas p.j.'s and we took their picture together. The girls' pajama tops say, "What Santa doesn't bring me, Grandma will!" I'm pretty sure Grandma has this phrase trademarked--or at least she uses it as her motto. She does a great job filling in the "holes" that Santa forgets!

We enjoyed each other's company, ate too much food, and watched too many movies. It was great. A wonderful way to end our Christmas season!

All things Christmas: Part Two

We celebrated Christmas Eve with my side of the family--the afternoon at my dad's house, the evening with my mom, and my brothers all around and in between. The kids loved receiving gifts, of course, and I loved the food and good company. We also had exciting news when we found out my nephew, Sebastian, and his wife, Savannah, are expecting their first baby! That makes my brother a soon-to-be grandpa! Wow.


And, of course, we had to "discuss" the BYU Cougars' win over the Oregon State Beavers in the Las Vegas Bowl a few days earlier. My older brother being a loyal Beaver fan (he even flew down to the game) and we being Cougar alums--well, you can see where this is going. It isn't often I have the upper hand over my big brother. I had to take advantage of the opportunity! We gave him some good laughs and he was a good sport. I'll need to be cautious, however, should he choose to seek his revenge when I'm the least suspecting.




Christmas morning was full of excitement as the kids discovered what Santa brought. They were very excited about their gifts and we were very blessed this year. We enjoyed the day together--making messes, playing games, setting up toys, curling hair, and taking pictures. It's one of my favorite days of the year.

The most important day of the year

What's the most important day of the year? Christmas? No... Wedding anniversary? No.... Tax day? No.... Shannon's birthday!

I had a wonderful birthday this year with my dear, sweet, family. This year the day fell on a Sunday, which was wonderful because everyone was home to spend it with me. I came home from church to discover that Jason had slipped away to make me a gourmet pasta dinner for lunch, complete with a beautiful dinner table set with the finest! What a man! And what a meal! Delicious.

In my sleep

The other day my mom was helping Grant tie his shoes. While she was tying the laces, Grant asked her if she needed her glasses. She said, "No."

He asked why not and she replied, "Oh, I can practically tie shoes in my sleep."

Grant thought for a minute and said, "I don't wear shoes when I sleep."

Christmas portraits

Last year I sat each child down in front of the tree and snapped my camera away until I could get a decent photo. They turned out so well I decided to do it again and will probably do it every year until they leave my roof. Good lookin' bunch, eh?

Cold hard cash

Recently we purchased a car, fixed it up, and sold it. The new buyer came in with a pillowcase filled with cash as payment--all $1 bills. I wondered where his ski mask might be hidden since surely he must have robbed a bank! We're not sure why he chose to use one-dollar bills, but it must have been a "dream" of his to pay for something big with cold hard cash. We were happy to fulfill his dream!

All things Christmas: Part One

So far we've celebrated Christmas with concerts, parties, lights, singing, etc. We're enjoying the season so far. It's such a magical time with children. And, I can bribe them to behave a bit better by threatening to tell Santa what they're doing! Sad, but true.

This year was Dallin's first school Christmas concert, since last year's was cancelled due to crazy weather. He was SO excited he could hardly contain himself. Every five minutes he asked if it was time to leave and kept reminding me he had to be 15 minutes early. He knew every word of the songs and sang his little heart out. Can you find him in the sea of faces?


(Hint: He's wearing a vest and a red tie.)

Every year we visit a house in the area where an old high school friend of mine grew up. They have a gazillion Christmas lights and various attractions set up to view and explore. The kids love the train village, the water fountains, and the candy canes. This year they had mini golf, swings, and a giant plastic bubble where they hold concerts, movies, and other gatherings. It really is quite an amazing production.






The kids had their Christmas parties at school and Grant, Kyle, and Karina joined in the festivities at Dallin's class party. Dallin's teacher is always welcoming of our family to join activites and I appreciate her very much. They had lots of yummy treats, a movie, and even gifts from the teacher.


Last night we visited the Festival of Lights at The Grotto in Portland. The Grotto is a Catholic sanctuary with beautiful gardens, a chapel, walking paths, etc. We have a friend who is an actor in a short Christmas play every year at The Grotto and he gives us tickets to come. The Christmas lights are beautiful, the short plays entertaining, the petting zoo of manger-type animals is fun for the kids, and high school choirs sing throughout the night for concert. It's quite a lovely way to spend a Christmas season evening enjoying beautiful music and reminders of Christ.

Cold snap

Last week the seriously cold weather we endured for over a week finally snapped. It was pretty cold for Oregon standards, and we barely reached highs above the freezing level each day. The kids took gloves, coats, and hats to school, and I even had a hard time keeping the house warm with a raging fire every day. No precipitation came with the cold air, so we didn't have snow but a lot of ice formed on familiar areas of our world, which was very beautiful.

The kids thought it was the coolest thing ever that the pond by the library was nearly frozen over. The ducks may have had other thoughts about it. They were hunkered down and just enduring the ice, I think.


This is nearby Eagle Creek. It's a swift moving, shallow creek that is fun to explore in the summertime. I have never seen it so frozen. It was beautiful.



My favorite ice creations are the giant icicles and ice falls that form on the rocks and cliffs in the countryside. They are simply amazing. You don't realize how much water flows out of the ground and over the rocks until it is forced to stay in place for a while.

Kid scribblings

With Grant being in kindergarten this year, I wondered if he would ever begin to draw coherent objects. So far, he has taken the longest of my oldest three children to develop "artistic" skills. It hasn't suprised me too much since he's just too physically active to sit still long enough to be interested in coloring or drawing or writing. Finally, the other day he presented me with the following masterpiece, which he worked on repeatedly throughout the course of one day. There are flowers "with lots of pokies on them," grass, rocks in the driveway, and a myriad of other mysterious objects in the landscape.


Likewise, Karina has been very busy lately with her own artwork. At least twice a day she asks for a piece of paper and sits down to create masterpieces of tiny circles or swirly scribbles. It's very serious work and her concentration is illustrated by her extruded tongue, a trait she inherited from her father.

Thanksgiving dinner and a waterpark

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, we gathered with my immediate family and celebrated the holiday early. Amid the familiar Thanksgiving entrees were new recipes my brother and I brought to share with the family, including, but not limited to, a caprese salad (uber-tasty and Italian), a ratatouille (roasted yumminess and French), a tzatziki dip (super fresh tasting and Greek), and a turtle cheesecake (turbo-rich, creamy and completely, 100% American). A true melting pot of dinners to go with the melting pot of which our country is made. It was a nice afternoon of good company, great food, and of course, napping.





Since we celebrated Thanksgiving early, the actual holiday day was free for us to do whatever we wanted. We decided to take advantage of the time off from school and work to escape with the kids to somewhere fun. We settled on spending a night at the Great Wolf Lodge in Washington. Wow! What a place for families! It's rare we go to a hotel and are surrounded by so many other children. The Lodge caters to kids and so there were plenty of activities to keep them busy, not the least being the giant indoor waterpark right inside the hotel! What is it about water that it will keep kids occupied for hours and hours? I'll admit, it was pretty fun--even for the adults! They had several different waterslides, a wave pool, a giant water fort that dumped, squirted, and poured water on everyone in and around it, and a kiddie pool area for the little ones.





Below is the giant water bucket that stood at the top of the water fort. Every five minutes or so, a clanging cow bell warned everyone nearby that 1,000 gallons of water were about to come-a-crashin'. It was quite the experience!



After spending the day at the waterpark, we were ravishingly hungry. We enjoyed the Thanksgiving buffet at the hotel, complete with prime rib, pasta, sushi, a chocolate fountain, and turkey ice sculptures! I tried the sushi--ummm, no thanks; and the kids tried the chocolate fountain--ummm, messy!



Later that evening was a storytime show for the kids with music and even snow! (And, yes, those are two of my children standing at the very front, blocking everyone's view!)


It was a fun-filled vacation and a memorable Thanksgiving. My mom came with us and we enjoyed spending time together as a family, creating memories, and laughing and playing. We were (and still are) very grateful to have spent this time together.

Mariah's first soccer season

Last Saturday, in the beautiful, cool, sunny fall weather, Mariah played her last game of her first soccer season. It was a fun season for her, despite the inability to play about half of the games because of her broken arm. She continued practicing with her team during that time and, after a few tries as a forward and realizing it involved A LOT of running, she found herself comfortable in the defender position. Her coaches even named her the "Dependable Defender." She was great! She made some friends, learned a new skill, and tried her best. It was fun to see her succeed in a new sport and enjoy it.

Now I know...

...why parents get so emotionally involved when their children play sports. There's something about watching your child, whom you know and understand so completely, take the talents they are given and apply them to their best ability, and be successful!

For me, I've always wanted my children to play sports with the end goal of building their self-esteem and having fun. I don't care about winning or losing or being the star player. I just want my kids to do their best and have fun.

Tonight, as I watched Dallin and Grant play their first basketball game of the season (and after only one practice!) I was so pleased with their effort. Their personalities were shining through with each move they made.

Dallin: thoughtful and methodical, focused on thing at a time, awkwardly dribbling the ball down the court with every fiber of his being involved in doing it correctly, obediently trying to pass the ball to his teammates, finally taking a shot and making it, then unable to shake the satisfaction of success from his body as he stands mid-court for several seconds and grins at his mom for approval, completely and utterly pleased with himself.

Grant: energetic, scrappy, coordinated, eager to handle the ball, grabbing it the moment it is loose, dribbling down the court quite well for his experience level, then shooting the ball with style and a little bit of flamboyance.

These are my boys. Completely opposite, completely wonderful.

And here I was, on the sidelines, amidst all manner of parents illustrating their emotions. Some shouting, some clapping, some bossing, some whooping, some quiet, and me getting teary-eyed of all things!

These are my boys. My babies. And I love that they are growing and having fun and that I get to watch them do it!

Kyle musings

Kyle always asks me interesting questions as we're driving in the car. He's four years old and his brain is hard at work internalizing the world around him. I think when he's stuck in his car seat with nowhere to wiggle, his thoughts finally have a chance to surface, and what thoughts they are!

Yesterday in the car he started a discussion about what to do during an encounter with a bear. After explaining to me in great detail that I need to make lots of noise because bears are scared of noisy stuff and assuring me they don't eat people all that often, he asked, "Mom, why did Heavenly Father make bears?"

Several responses flooded my mind, but none were easy to explain. So he could have something at the top of the food chain? So the rivers wouldn't clog up with salmon? I wasn't quite sure what the eternal purpose of a bear is here on the earth, so I finally settled on this highly intelligent, insightful answer: "Well, I suppose because He liked them."

Then, Kyle's highly intelligent, insightful reply followed. "Well, I guess He doesn't really care about people then."

Dallin's list

The other day I found this cute list Dallin made called, "Things I Want to Do." Here's the list (verbatim):

sking
Dinsnyland
Yosemety
Bend
Water works
acounts (referring to opening a bank account)
driveing licents
graduwate colige
baptisd
get a job
laser tag
jjj jump
chuky chees

I love that he has a mix of serious, adult-like goals and fun, kid stuff. It's a nice balance, which is very much like Dallin's personality. He's a kid who loves to have fun but also realizes there are serious parts of life too!

Ghouls & Goblins

Halloween was fun this year for me. I took it easy, didn't stress about decorating or costumes, and tried to go with the flow. It might have helped that I was sick during the week and I just knew not to expect to get much done. Or maybe I'm finally starting to mellow out.....maybe. We had plenty of leftover costumes from years past to recycle through the younger kids, which made the costuming super easy. I think Grant was the only one who wasn't completely satisfied with the recycling plan. He tried out three different costumes for each Halloween event he went to. Trunk or treat - Batman; school party - ghost; Halloween night - Chewbacca.


On Halloween afternoon we finally found time to carve jack-o-lanterns. I usually wait to have Jason home to help since he doesn't mind getting messy and he's more of an artist than I am with the faces. But he was working, so I braved the project by myself with the kids and actually enjoyed it! I didn't even freak out about the kids making a mess with the pumpkin guts, which I usually do. So, see? Maybe I really am mellowing out!



I took the kids to a friend's house (Tracy) who converts her garage into a haunted house every year. The first year we went the kids were petrified to go in and it took several go-arounds with them clinging to my legs and Tracy telling her husband not to scare the kids before they were finally comfortable. This year they were pretty brave and even Tracy's blood-curdling screams didn't phase them much. They love going in to see all the spooky decor and to try to find Tracy's husband, Rick, who wanders around in costume creeping everyone out!




We survived another Halloween--now let's see if we survive the weeks ahead with the candy monsters bugging me everyday for some of their Halloween loot. One of these days when they ask me how many pieces they can have I'm just going to say, "Eat it all!" and get it over with!